From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Sun Oct 27 11:38:43 1996 Received: from thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk by clover.csv.warwick.ac.uk with ESMTP id LAA11311; Sun, 27 Oct 1996 11:38:04 GMT Received: by thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk id LAA21516; Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:58:30 +0100 (BST) Received: from lehman.Lehman.COM by thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk with SMTP id LAA21502; Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:57:32 +0100 (BST) Received: (from smap@localhost) by lehman.Lehman.COM (8.6.12/8.6.12) id GAA01388 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Fri, 25 Oct 1996 06:57:12 -0400 Received: from relay.mail.lehman.com(192.9.140.112) by lehman via smap (V1.3) id tmp001384; Fri Oct 25 06:57:11 1996 Received: from londonvnm1.lehman.com by relay.lehman.com (4.1/LB-0.6) id AA22812; Fri, 25 Oct 96 06:57:09 EDT Received: from london123.lehman.com by londonvnm1.lehman.com (4.1/Lehman Bros. V1.6) id AA21845; Fri, 25 Oct 96 11:56:36 BST Date: Fri, 25 Oct 96 11:56:36 BST From: aflores@lehman.com (Aram Flores) Message-Id: <9610251056.AA21845@londonvnm1.lehman.com> To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk Subject: Something (else) to stoke the fire... Cc: aflores@lehman.com Sender: owner-britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Status: RO Hi all (tradional BD greeting it appears) Andy Cotgreave has posted somthing related to my personal pet peave with the way British Ultimate is organised - the predominance of non-geographic teams. > In Britain, what is done to > develop the highest level of British ultimate? > I strongly feel that the biggest factor in Shotgun's longevity at the top of British Ultimate is the fact that most of us live near each other and therefore we are able to practice (train). I believe that as long as our opposition are groups of ex-college friends (who might or might not be great individual players) that get together at tournaments or occasional weekend sessions, we will continue to dominate (not that I mind this part all that much). If you look around at other countries (or indeed other sports) most teams are comprised of players that live near each other and therefore practice together. It provides all sorts of advantages that just being good mates doesn't even begin to make up for, such as; fitness, plays, different offences and defenses etc.. I feel that if British Ultimate is ever going to challenge the rest of the world, it will have to break this peculiar structure. My suggestion is that we limit the number of players on a team that live outside the region for National competitions. This is not a new concept, it was used briefly in the US (showing my age here). The aim of this restriction in the states was to prevent teams from "choosing" the region where they had the best chance of qualifying. It will clearly take a while for teams to restructure so in the short run it would only be fair if teams were able to field two or three players from outside their region. I feel that having several "big" regional (eventually many) teams practicing regularly will be a tremendous boost to British Ultimate. I also feel that this will not necessarily have a negative impact on "lesser" teams, which hopefully will be inspired to practice as well (actually I think many of the "lesser" teams practice more than the "big" teams). We (shotgun) encourage people to come to our training sessions even if they have little chance of ever playing with us, or simply don't want to. I feel a bit odd making suggestions that might eventually lead to our downfall, but I would enjoy playing more competitive games. Aram PS: I don't really care who lines up across from me, bring `em all on. PPS: Del, I don't think that fragmenting the "big" teams is the right way forward for British Ultimate. If we don't recruit young raw talent (such as the regulators who were the typical non-geo team I dislike) how else do older, experienced players pass on the "knowledge"?